Wednesday, May 19, 2010

I have to admit, I picked this book up only because I was incredibly curious about the contents of Dangerous Pie. Was it full of poison? Live insects? Would it cause you turn green and take to bed (like in Freckle Juice?) Well, you'll have to read the book to find out what Dangerous Pie is, but just know that it's nothing what you'd expect.

In fact, this entire book was absolutely nothing like what I had expected. The main character, Steven Alper, seems to deal with normal everyday eighth grade problems: girls ignore him, his grades are mediocre, and his parents embarrass him. However, unbeknownst to everyone else there is one major problem that Steven is dealing. His five-year-old brother, Jeffrey, has leukemia.

Major Yikes.

This story is Steven's amazing journey through his eight grade year. You'll come to adore little Jeffrey, want to be best friends with Annette, laugh hysterically at Steven's awkwardness, and beg your parents to sign up for drum lessons. Watch out--the snot risk in this book is VERY HIGH and may catch you unexpectedly. I'm talking major, major snot.

Recipe to Read By: Dangerous Pie

The "dangerous" way to make the basic caramel filling needed for this dessert is to place a can or two of condensed milk in a pot of water and let it boil for hours and hours. However, if you let the water level drop you will run the risk of caramel explosion, putting yourself, your crumb-scrounging dog, and everyone around you in immediate danger.

1.) Place a graham cracker crust into a pie plate. 2.) Fill with the caramel filling. Don’t stir the filling too much; you want it to stay firm, and not too gooey.3.) Slice your bananas on the diagonal and layer over the top of the caramel filling. Refrigerate until completely firm. 4.) Top with whipped cream and shaved chocolate. If you really want to up the "danger" factor, you can add a few slices of banana to the top for decoration. Watch out!